Sunday, June 1, 2014

Well, It's Not Sara Lee...

Take
the name of a well-known American businessman — first and last names.
Put the last name first. Insert an M between the two names. The result
names a food item. What is it?

And it's another puzzle to challenge us on HOW to solve it, more than what's the solution. Do you look up famous businessmen? Or do you think about food (always my preferred solution)?

While we're thinking about this, please remember to send in your answer (which "just came" to you on your way to church/brunch/international peace treaty talks) to NPR using their flourishing Contact Us form found here.

Oh. Okay. We have it. I think this needs to be a hint-free comments section, so take those cunning puns over to Blaine's, okay?

And I will get on with showing photos of June, as has been requested by long-time range-picker David. Great idea, David! There are so many to pick from, but I gotta spare poor Mendo Jim, whose dial-up connection can only handle so much...

Time for

This is where we ask you how many entries you think NPR will get for the
challenge above. If you want to win, leave a comment with your guess
for the range of entries NPR will receive. First come first served, so
read existing comments before you guess. Or skip the comments and send
an email with your pick to Magdalen (at) Crosswordman (dot) com. Ross
and I guess last, just before we publish the Thursday post. After the
Thursday post is up, the entries are closed. The winner gets a puzzle
book of our choosing or a contribution in the winner's honor to the Red Cross.

Over 650 correct entries last week, so Paul is our winner. Paul, get in touch to tell us if you'd like a puzzle book (we got 'em to give away) or a gift to the Red Cross. Meanwhile, what do you think about this week's puzzle? Lots of people, or just a trickle?

Our tie-break rule: In the event
that a single round number is announced with a qualifier such as
"about" or "around" (e.g., "We received around 1,200 entries."), the
prize will be
awarded to the
entrant who picked the range including that precise
number, e.g., 551 - 600 wins if the announced range is "around 600." We
retain the discretion to award the prize to an entrant who picked the
adjacent range (e.g., 601-650) if that entrant had not
already won
a prize. In the event that
both entrants had won a
prize already or neither had,
then to the earlier of the
two entries on the
famous judicial principle of
"First Come First Serve,"
(or in technical legal jargon,
"You Snooze, You Lose").
As of January, 2014, this rule is officially even more complicated than
it's ever been, but at least it's consistent with what we actually do..